Adventures in Contrast: Introduction & Candied Metallic Armor

... and now for something completely different! On the 15th of June Games Workshop finally released their new Citadel Colour Contrast paint range. I have been very keen to work with them, put them through their paces and see if the hype is real or not. Excited for this new paint system, I bought the entire range of 36 Contrast colors, both pots and spray cans of Grey Seer and Wraithbone base colors, as well as Contrast Medium. I cracked open the Monolith Conan board game to use as a testing ground and went to work. My main goal of this series is not so much to review these new paints. With all of the videos and other previews and testimonials floating around I'm sure you've no doubt seen reviews of Contrast already. Especially if you're on this site and in the Warhammer/Miniatures painting community. Instead, I am going to put these paints to the test and see what we can do with them other than speed painting armies. Let's see what this stuff can do! First off, let's do a quick run down of that Contrast is. Contrast is a new type of miniatures paint, advertised as a base coat, shadow and highlight in one. It is a semi-opaque pigment heavy paint that is thicker than the Citadel Shade washes and much thinner than Citadel Base and Layer paints. There are two specific base colors to use with Contrast, Grey Seer and Wraithbone. One is a very light grey color and the other is a very light bone color. When Contrast is painted over these base colors it stains the base coat and then flows into the recesses. The base layer remains on the high points acting as a highlight, while the Contrast's pigments does the work for the shadows. Games Workshop claims that all you need is one thick coat and you're models will be table ready and look gooooood. How good really depends on the color you're using and the model you're using it on. Each color seems to give different coverage, depending on the shade/hue. Some of the colors will go on very nicely with a single coat, others may require a 2nd one. What about that One Thick Coat they keep talking about? Well, from my own experience one thick coat will work, but you don't want to go too thick and have to watch for pooling in the recesses. Also, too thick and it takes a lot longer for this stuff to fully dry. Think of it as slathering on wash and then having to wait for it to dry. Its basically the same thing. So, like anything, be mindful of layer thickness and play with it til you get it working for you. With that in mind, Contrast is a really interesting tool for doing all sorts of fun things! Originally, I'd planned on doing this as a one off post, showing off my results. It has since turned into a behemoth of an article and I feel it will work best split up into sections. I'm not sure how many it will be total, as I am still doing tests and always finding new ways to work with this paint. But as I get them written, I will share them! For this first article, let's take a look at using Contrast to make fancy colored metallics! One neat thing you can do with Contrast is candied metallic armor, like the classic candy apple red of sports cars. Of course, it doesn't have to be red, you can use any of the Contrast colors to do some very interesting metallic colors! For this example, we will be using Shyish Purple, which is a really nice dark purple. Metallic purple is a color that I've always wanted to do, but never was able to get it to jive. Now thanks to Contrast, I am able to do it easily and with some great results!

Drybrush: Leadbelcher Starting from a black base coat, drybrush over your armor with Leadbelcher.	Drybrush: Stormhost Silver From there, do another drybrush of Stormhost Silver. This time trying to only hit the highest points of the armor.
Edge Highlight: Stormhost Silver To make the silver really pop and give the metal some extra shine, edge highlight the highest points with Stormhost Silver.	Contrast: Shyish Purple When you are satisfied with your highlights. layer the armor with Contrast Shyish Purple. Try to get as even a coats as possible.
Gloss: 'ardcoat Finally, hit the raised sections of the armor with gloss 'ardcoat to make that armor really pop!

That's pretty much it!

I've fought with getting a nice purple candy coat for years, and it's actually caused me to shelve a project because I wasn't happy with the results I was getting.  This new technique solves all those issues and now it's only a matter of whether to drybrush the silver on or do high contrast true metal under it. Hmmm...

That's it for now though, I've been busily working away at testing out the Contrast paints and next time I'll have some examples of doing Gemstones with them, opening up more options than the original Gemstone Paints. 

Until next time, you can catch me on Twitter and Instagram. Where I'll be sharing pictures of tests I am currently working on and you can ask me any questions you may have.

If you like what I do and want to support the site and my painting endeavors, you can do so over on Ko-fi. All it takes is $3 and it's much appreciated. Also, you can buy The Brush Wizard shirts and such over on my Teespring shop, where you'll find a growing selection of shirts and other goodies. 

Thanks for reading!